In this week’s ¨Who’s Out There Now¨ feature, we bring to you Dave and Deb the dynamic duo behind ThePlanetD. With a mission to show that anyone can travel, they have been criss-crossing the world since 2008. Their enthusiasm and adventures have helped make theirs one of the most popular travel blogs. It’s hard to keep up with these two, so I’m glad we were able to pin them down for this interview! Illustrating the point, these guys are going to travel overland from London to Mongolia as part of the Mongol Rally.

1. So, where in the world are you answering these questions?
We are answering these questions from the Red Sea in Aqaba, Jordan.

2. You got your start in Egypt in January of 2008. Why did you choose to start there?
When we decided to become full time travelers, we knew that we needed to do something epic to stand out from the crowd. We read about a cycling race from Cairo to Cape Town and knew that was for us. 12,000 km on a bicycle cycling down an entire continent definitely got people’s attention. We wrote a four part series for one of Canada’s national newspapers, we appeared on television and radio and we became known as a couple that likes to take on crazy adventures.

3. In cycling from Cairo to Cape Town, you’ve seen some of the least traveled spots in the world. How is travel different for you when you are in a place where people are not accustomed to having lots of tourists visit versus other places which are highly trafficked?
When we were in the Sudan, people were very welcoming and kind. They had very little, but they would buy us breakfast, offer us food and water and hail us down as we cycled by so that they could talk to us. People were genuinely happy that we were visiting their country and wanted to share their story with us. They didn’t stop us because they wanted anything from us; they waved at us asking us to stop because they wanted to talk to us about our country and to ask us what we thought of Sudan. There was a curiosity as to why people would ride a bicycle through their country.

When we travel to highly trafficked destinations, we don’t communicate with the local people as much. They have seen tourists and aren’t curious about us therefore they aren’t as interested in talking with us as much as other places. There isn’t a deep connection like we had in the Sudan or places like Burma and Sri Lanka.

4. How has your travel style changed since 2008?
In 2008, it was our first time traveling and working. Before that we traveled simply for the love of travel. We didn’t care about the story or interest and went to wherever our hearts desired. Now we think about what makes a place and its people interesting to our readers. We tend to be far busier in our travels now as well. It is funny because I read that most other Travel Bloggers take their travels slower since they started Blogging, yet we are opposite. We do more adventures and move quicker to keep things exciting for our readers and us. We are now always seeking out some an adventure, sport or different destination that will be fun for our followers to read about.

5. Career break, nomadic adventure, backpacking, how do you characterize your travels?
Nomadic Adventure

6. Have you ever had a moment when you thought, OK, we’re done. Time to settle down and stay in one place? Why or why not?
We have plans to have a home base in the next two years. We will always keep travel as our careers, but we do want a place of our own that we can come home to. We probably won’t settle down any time soon as we like to travel for extended periods, but we will have a place in Canada that we can lay our heads between travels.

7. What are some of the secrets to travel that you’ve discovered that you think more people who aren’t traveling should know?
That people are similar all over the world. You may think that a culture doesn’t have the same beliefs or way of life, but people are people everywhere. They laugh, they play, they want peace and happiness. It is wonderful because you feel at home all over the world.

8. What was your first ¨I’m not in Kansas anymore¨ moment?
Our first experience that really opened our eyes was a trip to Thailand in 2000. Travel was very different for us then. We didn’t have Skype and didn’t email people at home. It was 5 weeks away without any contact with families or friends and it was completely different from anywhere we had ever been. It was our first time riding an elephant and an visiting a Pagoda. We had never seen a Monk in person ridden a longtail boat to a remote island. It was new and exciting and it changed our lives.

9. What’s been your most ¨local¨ experience so far?
That would be in Sri Lanka when we befriended our Tuk Tuk driver Ajith. We got to know his family and ate dinner at his house as friends. We went with him to a local school where he donated shoes to children that live in the jungle. We got to know his way of life and made a friend that touched our hearts.

 

10. What has been your most embarrassing moment?
There are so many to choose from it is difficult to share with the entire world. Let’s just say it involved bodily fluids on a train in Asia.

11. What’s your secret for getting the most out of your journey?
Take your time. In recent months we have had obligations that have taken us on whirlwind trips through countries and while that is exciting, we feel that we are missing out. We prefer to spend an extended period in one place. It isn’t about listing off as many countries as we can.

12. Finally, our lightening round.

• Best dish you’ve found so far – Addis Ababa, an awesome array of Wat stews served atop injera
• Most exotic food eaten – Snake in Vietnam
• Most breathtaking moment – Walking through the Himalayas of Nepal enroute to Everest Base Camp.
• Biggest disappointment – The Taj Mahal.
• Most memorable place – Tanzania. The energy of the people, climbing Kilimanjaro, relaxing in Zanzibar.
• Most memorable person – A man we met in Myanmar, he had a difficult life, but always told us “I’ve got too many fish to fry” whenever we asked him how we was doing. We often think of him.
• Best thing to have on a long bus ride – Dave, iPod Deb, Good Book
• Worst thing to have on a long bus ride – Tea (it makes me pee)
• Best thing you packed – Belkin mini surge protector, pegless clothesline
• Dumbest thing you packed – So many, where to begin…sleeping bags for South East Asia pops into my head.
• Funniest travel habit your partner has – Deb can never remember where we are staying, what room we are in or the name of our hotel. Dave is perfect he doesn’t have any funny habits
• Place you wish you could’ve stayed longer – China

 

You can follow Dave and Deb online at ThePlanetD, on Facebook and on Twitter @ThePlanetD
Every week, Career Break Secrets profiles a different traveler or traveling couple who are embracing the ¨Because Life Is Out There TM¨ travel spirit. These are people who have taken the plunge to embark on a career break and are currently traveling the world.

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Tags: Who´s Out There Now

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